In March 2025, Celo migrated from an independent Layer 1 chain to an Ethereum Layer 2, built with OP Stack and EigenDA. The real practical value of this migration for payment demand does not come from the "Celo is now an L2" label itself. Instead, it keeps its original ultra-low fees and stablecoin gas payment features, while moving its full settlement security under Ethereum's protection. The CELO token still acts as a governance and staking credential after migration, but it is no longer a mandatory asset you need to hold for daily payments — you can complete all transactions on Celo using only stablecoins.
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What payment-friendly features does Celo keep after migration?
Celo's L2 implementation has a clear difference from other OP Stack chains: it fully retains all the payment-focused designs that existed before migration, instead of removing them for the sake of "standardization".
Pay gas directly with stablecoins. This is not an abstract layer built via third-party paymasters or relayers, it is supported natively at the node level. Any regular account can pay gas fees with USDm, USDC, USDT or other whitelisted currencies, no need to hold CELO first. If you only hold USD stablecoins, you can still send any transaction on Celo without extra steps.
Transaction fees stay below 1 cent. Celo sets the OP Stack's L1 cost and operational cost components to zero, and relies on EigenDA's low data cost to keep this low fee level. A typical transaction on Celo costs less than $0.01.
1-second block time. After migration, Celo keeps its original 1-second block production speed. For payment scenarios, users can see transaction confirmation almost immediately after sending a transfer.
Native stablecoin ecosystem remains active. The Mento protocol continues to issue USDm, EURm and multiple local fiat-pegged stablecoins, while USDC and USDT also circulate natively on the chain. Celo's official documentation defines stablecoins as "gas currencies accepted by the chain itself", not just regular on-chain assets.
All these features combine to support a very specific use case: a user who only has a mobile phone and only holds stablecoins can complete transfers, payments and receive funds on Celo, without ever needing to touch CELO or understand how gas fees work.
What is the CELO token used for now?
The role of CELO has changed on L2, but it has not become useless.
On-chain governance. CELO holders lock their tokens to vote on governance proposals, all core protocol parameters including supported fee currencies and contract upgrades are controlled by on-chain governance. This is CELO's most core function.
Staking and validator election. Holders can lock CELO to vote for validator groups, and participate in the election of network maintainers. After migration, selected validators no longer produce blocks, but run community RPC nodes to provide services for the network, and voters and node operators get epoch rewards.
It is no longer a mandatory gas asset. This is the most important distinction after migration. Back in the L1 era, CELO was the main asset for paying gas (even though it already had the feeCurrency design at the time). On L2, native gas abstraction lets stablecoins pay fees directly, so CELO is no longer required for regular transactions. Pintu's analysis also notes that CELO's value accrual mechanism is relatively weak, since network transaction fees are kept intentionally very low, higher network usage does not automatically create more demand for CELO.
If you only want to receive payments, send payments, or use MiniPay on Celo, you do not need to buy any CELO. You only need to hold CELO if you want to participate in network governance or earn staking yields.
What does real payment demand look like on Celo?
Data released by Celo and its ecosystem partners helps you confirm if this chain's payment use cases fit your needs.
MiniPay is a self-custody stablecoin wallet built by Opera on Celo. By mid-2026, it has over 16 million activated wallets, covers more than 65 countries, and has processed over 420 million transactions. Its user base is concentrated in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia, with features including stablecoin transfers, bill payments, and local real-time payments via Mercado Pago and PIX for users in Argentina and Brazil.
In June 2026, MiniPay partnered with Visa and Gnosis Pay to launch a virtual debit card, letting users spend their stablecoin balances directly at 175 million Visa-accepting merchants worldwide. Merchants receive funds in local fiat currency, no extra crypto setup required. Celo's USDT has over 4 million weekly active users, and transactions paying gas fees with USDT account for nearly half of all gas fee volume on the network.
These numbers prove that Celo's payment demand is very real, but it is concentrated in specific regions and user groups: mobile-first users in emerging markets, cross-border remittances, and daily small-value purchases. If you are looking for a chain that lets users operate "with only stablecoins", Celo's design is a perfect match. If your use case targets large DeFi traders, high-frequency trading, or requires deep liquidity, Celo is not built for those scenarios.
One real change brought by migration: updated security model
After moving from L1 to L2, Celo no longer produces blocks via its own validator set. Transactions are ordered by the sequencer, data is published to EigenDA, and final settlement happens on Ethereum. This means you no longer trust Celo's original independent consensus, but a set of layered components: sequencer, batcher, proposer, EigenDA, and Ethereum as the final security backstop.
For payment scenarios, the impact of this change depends on your requirements for transaction finality. Celo's documentation notes that finality on the L2 can depend on trust in components like the sequencer, or full finality on Ethereum. Daily small payments usually do not need to wait for Ethereum full finality, but if you are processing large-value settlements, you need to understand this layered trust structure.
Key judgments you need to make
If you are a merchant or individual looking to accept payments on Celo: You do not need to hold any CELO. Just prepare a wallet that supports the Celo network, and you can receive USDT, USDC or USDm directly. Payers can use stablecoins to cover gas fees, and you can also use your received stablecoins to pay gas fees when you send funds out later.
If you plan to use MiniPay or a similar wallet: Celo's full payment infrastructure is already live, but MiniPay's availability and specific features (like debit cards, local payment channels) depend on your country of residence. Celo's official public coverage includes Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia and some European markets, users outside these regions may have access to limited features.
If you are evaluating the CELO token as an investment: Treat it as a governance and staking asset, not a payment tool. Its demand comes from governance participation and staking yields, not the assumption that "anyone using Celo has to buy CELO". There is no automatic transmission between network usage growth and token price, and this relationship is even more obvious after the L2 migration.
If you are selecting a chain to build a payment product: Celo's key differentiation is that stablecoin gas payment is a native protocol feature, not an added third-party abstract layer. If your target users will not buy ETH or CELO first before making transactions, this design removes a major point of friction. The tradeoff is that you have to accept the OP Stack + EigenDA trust model, and Celo's relatively concentrated user distribution in emerging markets.
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References
- Celo·Celo L2 Is Now Live! A Note From Our Founders, published date: 2025-03-31; verification date: 2026-10-19.
- Celo Documentation·Celo Protocol, last updated date: 2026-10-05; verification date: 2026-10-19.
- The Celo Blog·Opera and Celo Foundation Announce Extension of Strategic Partnership, published date: 2026-02-26; verification date: 2026-10-19.
- Celo Documentation·Discover Celo, last updated date: 2026-10-06; verification date: 2026-10-19.
- Celo Documentation·Community RPC Provider FAQ, last updated date: 2026-10-07; verification date: 2026-10-19.
- Pintu News·Celo (CELO) 2026 Price Analysis & Prediction, published date: 2026-04-11; verification date: 2026-10-19.
- The Celo Blog·Celo's First Year as an L2: Scaling the Programmable Rails for Global Finance, published date: 2026-03-25; verification date: 2026-10-19.
- Celo Documentation·Overview (Legacy), last updated date: 2026-08-06; verification date: 2026-10-19.
- The Celo Blog·The Gold Standard of Crypto Cards Is Here: MiniPay Virtual Card, published date: 2026-06-22; verification date: 2026-10-19.
- Nasdaq·MiniPay launches Visa debit card to connect stablecoin users in emerging markets to global spending, published date: 2026-06-23; verification date: 2026-10-19.
